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Court issued notice to NIA in a plea filed by Kashmiri separatist leader Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali against the charges framed by the trial court against him in a terror funding case.
The Delhi High Court on Tuesday issued notice on Kashmiri businessman and separatist leader Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali's plea against the charges framed by the trial court against him in a terror funding case that is being investigated by the National Investigation Agency (NIA).
In the case involving the terrorist and secessionist activities that disturbed the state of Jammu and Kashmir, the NIA arrested Watali in 2017 for offences under various Sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA).
The NIA Court in May 2022, had framed charges against Watali and other Kashmiri separatist leaders namely Farooq Ahmed Dar@ Bitta Karate, Shabbir Shah, Masarat Alam, Md. Yusuf Shah, Aftab Ahmad Shah, Altaf Ahmad Shah, Nayeem Khan, Md. Akbar Khanday, Raja Mehrajuddin Kalwal, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Shabir Ahmad Shah, Abdul Rashid Sheikh, and Naval Kishore Kapoor under various Sections of IPC and UAPA.
Watali has been charged with the allegation of "transferring money to Hurriyat leaders" that he received from individuals including Hafiz Saeed, the head of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Pakistan High Commission in New Delhi, and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence.
The division bench of Justice Siddharth Mridul and Justice Talwant Singh issued notice to the NIA and sought their response to the plea within three weeks.
“Let the reply be filed within a period of three weeks from today, after providing an advance copy to learned counsel appearing on behalf of the applicant/appellant, who may file rejoinder thereto, if any, within a period of one week thereafter. List on 16.05.2023”, the court ordered.
Notably, the high court in August 2022, refused to entertain Watali’s plea challenging the lower court's order wherein bail had been denied to him in the terror funding case. Watali had sought bail on the basis of the COVID-19 outbreak and his health condition.
Noting that Watli’s condition was stable and that he was being regularly treated with medicines, a bench of Justice Mukta Gupta and Justice Anish Dayal had refused to grant him bail.
Case Title: Zahoor Ahmad Shah Watali v. National Investigation Agency
Statue: The Indian Penal Code; The Unlawful Activities Prevention Act
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